Chidi's Soulmate
by mistyisbae
Summary: Eleanor was gone. Or rather, Fake Eleanor was gone. His soulmate, Real Eleanor, was still there, and she was doing her best to keep his spirits up... But he felt lost, no matter how hard he tried, there was something missing, and he knew what it was. His stomach hurt. Diverges from canon after "What's My Motivation." Eleanor/Chidi one-shot.


Eleanor was gone. Or rather, Fake Eleanor was gone. Chidi shook his head, closing his eyes concentrating on his thoughts. She wasn't exactly gone, per se, she was just somewhere else, not in the Good Place, not with him.

His soulmate, Real Eleanor, was still there, and she was doing her best to keep his spirits up with his favorite meals and discussing poetry and art and everything that would normally make him happy. But he felt lost, no matter how hard he tried, there was something missing, and he knew what it was.

His stomach hurt.

He was rifling through all of his books and teaching supplies as he had decided that he wasn't ready to live with Real Eleanor just yet and he didn't want to go "too fast" in their relationship. She simply smiled, nodded, and asked if she could help with anything. He forced a smile, gave her a quick no, and headed towards the guest room. He started with his clothes, putting turtle neck after turtle neck in his suitcase. He supposed Eleanor, or Fake Eleanor, was right, he had quite the extensive collection of turtle necks. Then he moved onto his books. From Kant to Plato he moved his fingers along the binders of each book, each one a different story of a lesson Eleanor, Fake Eleanor that is, had not only learned, but applied to her stay in the Good Place. Chidi was proud, Eleanor had really begun to earn her place here, and in turn helped him along the way, as well. He was no longer the Chidi Anagonye who filibustered recess, insistently went by the book, and saw in black and white. He was Chidi Anagonye, a smart and capable moral philosophy teacher that at least Eleanor didn't hate. In fact, she had told him, on more than one occasion, that she loved him. And in one case, said she was IN love with him. He recalled the warm feeling it had given him when she had said that, and the slight disappointment when she had later told him she didn't mean it, but she loved him in a platonic sense. Or rather as platonic as a savior/saved relationship could be. He grabbed his books and moved them to his book bag, slinging it over his shoulder. It was then he thought he heard something, faint but still there. He looked down to see a small note and looked at it as if it was the most peculiar thing to see on a floor. He proceeded to bend down to pick it up and flipped it over.

His heart stopped.

In gold letters, the note read "Fork Off, Eleanor." He laughed. The first time since he had seen her waving goodbye on that train, he laughed. A memory flooded over him, one of a beautiful day by the lake and Eleanor standing with his bag of French poetry and a rowboat waiting for him. She had listened to him, to his dream of paradise, and had arranged for it to happen. Then he remembered something not as joyful.

"I know we'll never be soulmates."

It was like when she had told him after she wasn't in love with him that they could never be meant for each other.

Now back to his previous serious expression, he focused desperately on a way to get Eleanor back, and a small part of him searched for an answer to a question he was afraid to ask.

"You should go."

Chidi whirled around, unaware of the presence of another person in the room. Real Eleanor stood by the doorway, looking at him with something sincere in her eyes, what it was Chidi didn't know.

"What?"

"You want to go get Eleanor back. Please go."

"I uh- I was packing to go back to my apartment, I wasn't-"

"Chidi, you haven't been yourself since she's been gone, you go out to see Michael whenever you get the chance and I assume it's to ask him if he has any news about Eleanor. Chidi, you love her, now go get her."

"Rea- Eleanor, I know what you must think but I assure you nothing-"

"Nothing is going on between you two, I know. You said that at dinner and even then I had a feeling Eleanor had feelings for you."

"Eleanor- but she told me she loves me, not that she's IN love with me."

"Chidi, I know you're a smart guy, and empathetic, you must realize what she had said was more of a way to move past what could be awkward and hurtful, and perhaps she did think that at the time, but Chidi-"

She looked desperately into his eyes, almost pleading him to listen to each and every word and take it to heart.

"I see the way she looks at you, talks about you, and while she may be willing to try and push her feelings away, I won't let them go unnoticed. She loves you Chidi, she wanted you to be happy, more than she wanted to be happy."

The words he had once said to her, "you're too selfish" found their way echoing in his mind. Was it possible? Could she really love him? And on top of that, of course she brushed her feelings to the side. She told him about the relationships she had with the men she'd dated, of all her selfish deeds on earth. She had never experienced love.

"Just like me." A small voice in him whispered.

"N-now hold on Eleanor, even if she did love me, how could I- I mean, the system- it set US up- and we ARE compatible, we share similar interests and values and-"

"Oh, Chidi, please you're not fooling anyone."

"Tahani?"

"Yes, Chidi, I'm here too. Believe it or not, you're not the only one who misses our dear Eleanor. And come to find she left for the sake of the neighborhood, well I couldn't just do nothing! Look, I even brought snacks for your trip! Let's see, I baked a pear pie since you and Eleanor are a perfect "pear," some matcha tea cause you're a "matcha" made in heaven, and uh, oh some mint chocolates because you're "mint" for each other. Do you get it?"

"Ah, y-yes Tahani but what is going on?"

"Oh, don't worry about a thing, Chidi, Eleanor here has told me everything! You're off to save the other Eleanor who has left us prematurely and whisk her off her feet and bring her back here where she belongs. I just think it's wonderful!"

"Tahani, you're wrong, I'm not going to 'whisk' Eleanor off her feet, I'm just moving back into my old apartment."

"It's just as I'd feared, you're in denial."

"Tahani, really there's nothing to discuss."

"Chidi, listen, I knew from the moment I saw you and Eleanor together that you two truly belonged together. I sensed a sort of spark between the two of you that only true soulmates could have. Of course, I thought Jiyanu and I had that same spark but then he spoke. Oh, Chidi, I did mean what I said about how true love is rare, you mustn't let it go so easily."

"This is insane. I'm not- you think- this is too much."

"I'm sorry, Chidi, but I think it's important we talk about this, that's why I invited Tahani over. She's seen you and Eleanor together longer than I have. I thought maybe she'd have more insight than I have on your relationship with Eleanor."

"What relationship? I care about Eleanor but we don't- our relationship is- I mean. Oh, stomachache."

"Oh Chidi, and people call me dramatic. I simply can't sit here and watch you let the love of your life slip away. It reminds me of my two dear friends and star crossed lovers, Brad and Angelina."

"It still doesn't make a difference, the system-"

"Chidi! Eleanor was a mistake by the system, was she not?"

Chidi pouted and looked at the towering woman in front of him as if waiting for a lecture from an authority figure, and secretly hoping it would shed light on this disgusting ethical soup of a situation.

"Tahani is right, Eleanor wasn't supposed to be in the Good Place, but you tried to make sure she stayed, right?"

He nodded. Of course he tried to help her.  
It did begin by a feeling of duty to his beliefs but after time, he sincerely wanted her to stay, for her to learn to be a good person, to see her happy.

"Now, isn't that against the system?"

"I- uh- I suppose but, it's different trying to save someone from eternal damnation and being in LOVE with someone you might not supposed to."

"Chidi, this isn't about ethics, or a calculation that set us up as soulmates, this is about how you feel. Chidi, do you love me?"

"What?"

"Chidi, it's important to you that you don't suppress whatever your answer might be. I want you to say what comes to you first, tell me how you feel when I ask do you love me. Now Chidi, do you love me?"

"But my motivation, and we were paired together and-"

"Chidi…"

"I just feel like if I had more time-"

"Do you love me?"

"A-and maybe if I had some frozen yogurt…"

"Chidi! Do you love me?"

"No!"

He looked shocked, he might have known that answer but to shout it, and in this context!

"Eleanor…"

"Chidi, it's fine. I think I knew, from that moment I told you how I felt, it didn't feel right for you to say it back. But Chidi, this is just as important."

He looked at her, as if she had the answer to all his problems. If she arrived instead of the Eleanor he learned to care for, maybe he could have loved her, been soulmates with her. If he never knew the other Eleanor existed.

A world without Eleanor…

"Chidi… Do you love Eleanor?"

His head whipped up to meet her eyes.

D-did he? L-love?

Oh this whole thing wasn't just giving him a stomachache, it was as if his appendix was about to burst. Did he even have an appendix anymore?

"Chidi, I need you to be completely honest with me. You hate lying, so don't do it to yourself."

Lying to himself? Had he been? Without even realizing it, had he been deceiving himself? Perhaps Eleanor was right, maybe living with a lie is easier than it seemed to him.

But he still hated lying, and wouldn't do it, not anymore.

"What do you think?"

"What do I think? Chidi, these are your feelings, I have no way of knowing-"

"You said you could tell Eleanor loved me by how she looked at me and talked about me. I want to know, do you think I love Eleanor?"

She said one word, clear and without hesitation.

And Chidi knew it was true. He smiled and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Thank you."

She smiled, a bit of sadness in her but more joy in spite of it.

"You're welcome."

"Might I add I too believe you two are meant for each other. I'm not quite sure but something about you two seems to work. Or maybe I'm just, as Eleanor put it, "going with it" since Janet and Jiyanu got married and left, probably on their honeymoon."

"Yeah I still have no idea how that happened."

"It doesn't really matter how, does it? Because it did."

"Right, like how Eleanor was sent here instead of me when we first died. I mean, maybe it was meant to be that way, so you two would meet and fall in love."

Chidi had never thought of it that way. Of all the places and people in the world, two Eleanor Shellstrops were killed in the same accident. One, his assigned soulmate, the other, the woman he learned to love.

"Maybe you're right. Ok, I'm going to go, thank you both. And Eleanor, please I want you to know I do care about you."

"I know Chidi, please go."

"Ok."

Tahani gave Chidi the basket of treats, he smiled and made his way to the door and opened it. He was about to walk out but turned to look at Real Eleanor one last time.

"Maybe there's another Chidi Anagonye."

She let out a small laugh, nodding, muttering "yes" and "please go."

With that he smiled, truly grateful for what she and Tahani had done, and was gone.

He made his way toward Michael's office, hoping there was some way of finding Eleanor, contacting her, anything.

He loved her. He loved the shrimp stealing, garbage storm inducing, selfish, stubborn, loud, warm, funny, and surprisingly good Eleanor Shellstrop. He realized he always had, perhaps in a small way at first. When she first said he was a good person, when she picked up trash and tried to hide the fact she was also going to dump some in Antonio's house but assuring him she was going to try and be good from that moment on. When she found a friend in Tahani thus making a beautiful plant grow, or when she supplied him with his ideal paradise in spite of her believing she wasn't his soulmate. Every little time she scrunched her face, or the way she looked at him seeking approval, and perhaps love. Even when she mocked and made fun of him, he had to admit he found her cute. It was everything she was, everything he knew she could be. When she was with him, she was the best version of herself, and he was the best version of himself when he was with her. They had had their arguments and they both had their faults, but when there wasn't a massive sinkhole threatening to swallow the world or giant animals destroying everything, he found himself being happier than he'd ever been.

He looked back at the note he had picked up before, and realized the answer had been so simple, so obvious he couldn't believe he hasn't figured it out. While he felt terrible having to tell the Real Eleanor that he didn't love her, the "I love you" note hidden in his egg was certainly more romantic and would cause anyone to feel something, but to him it didn't compare to his "Fork Off, Eleanor" note. For whatever reason, that moment, or that breakthrough for her or whatever it was, he found himself completely enamored by her and the note. It was an "I love you" note in itself, she was saying "I'm going to put you first, even before myself." And coming from the Eleanor that he met the day he arrived in the Good Place, it was the most precious thing he possessed.

With all these new feelings, he was scared. How would it all work out? What about Real Eleanor? Was he ready to be in love?

But he remembered what he had realized before, that at least if this was the first time he truly felt in love, Eleanor would be right there with him in the same boat.

"Ah, fork it. I'm in love with Eleanor."

The fake one, of course.


End file.
